


Late Night Lab

by for_t2



Category: The Rain (TV 2018)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Bookstores, Conspiracy, F/F, First Dates, Hospitals, Laboratories, Light Angst, Museums, Nerdiness, Walks On The Beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 22:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20881979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: Five first dates Simone and Fie could've had, and in a world hit by the rain and the virus, one they did have





	Late Night Lab

  1. ** The Science Museum **

“Do you want to see something awesome?”

Okay, so maybe running through a locked door and into the depths of the museum with a girl she just met wasn’t such a great idea. But, really, her logic was impeccable.

“You really want to be responsible forever? Forever’s a long time.”

And there’s so much to discover. Simone never imagined just how much there is in a museum. The exhibits are just the tip of a very large iceberg. Simone wishes she had the time to go through everything, to learn it all. And yeah, it’s fucking awesome.

“They got this part wrong.”

And maybe, Simone lets herself realise when they hole up in one of the offices, a treasure stove spread over the desk, Fie losing herself in the equations on the whiteboard, she might just have a little bit of a… crush. People have always called Simone smart, but Fie’s on a whole other level, and the way she gets so excited when she shares it is infectious.

And the way Fie gets so excited to share it specifically with her gives Simone a hope she didn’t know she needed.

In the end, even if the museum is a big place, they couldn’t run forever. The security caught up, and Simone knows she in for a hell of a lecture. But that’s okay.

Because they’ve already swapped numbers.

Because there’s so much more to discover.

  1. ** The Beach **

Fie, as it turns out, does not like to party.

Simone does. Maybe not wildly, maybe not blackout drunk, but still enough to get the adrenaline and the alcohol pumping through her veins.

And so, it’s one night in early September, the semester getting into gear, the new students in their new homes getting a taste of freedom for the first time, that they find themselves on the shore of the Baltic Sea, the music pounding a little too loudly over the speakers, the flashing lights bouncing of the waves, the bodies losing themselves in the heat of the crowds.

Whenever she gets a chance at a small break, a chance to catch her breath, Simone can’t help herself but notice the girl at the edge of the party. Sitting alone without a hint of a smile, just watching. Watching for what, Simone doesn’t know, but she’s going to make it her mission to find out.

“Come here often?”

The girl jerks out of her trance. “Huh?”

Simone giggles. “Sorry, that was a stupid line.” She holds out a hand. “Simone.”

“Fie,” the girl answers, with a handshake that’s far too serious for a party.

“Do you want anything to…” Even drunk, Simone isn’t going to miss the way Fie flinches before she finishes that sentence. “Do you want to dance?”

“Maybe later.”

“That’s be fun,” Simone says with a smile that she hopes comes off as invitingly friendly.

“Sure,” Fie replies with a tone that isn’t exactly hostile but doesn’t come with a trace of enthusiasm, that comes off almost as a deliberate attempt at neutrality.

Simone gives her another smile before disappearing back into the crowd.

Later that night, Simone manages to tear herself away from some guy a friend told her she’d like. Just in time to run to the edges of the beach. Just in time to catch Fie before she walks away. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Fie replies in that same neutral tone.

“Tired?”

Fie shrugs. “Sure.”

“Mind if I walk with you?” Simone takes Fie’s next shrug as a yes. “I need to make sure my brother gets up in the morning, or else he’ll be late for school again, and well, you know how that goes…”

Fie doesn’t, but she listens anyways as Simone rambles on. Eventually even joins in with a tiny bit of small talk of her own.

And, eventually, they don’t even realise that they’ve given up walking to anywhere in particular. They’re just walking. Together.

And, eventually, they get to a spot far enough away for the party noise to fade away from the background, for the starlight to filter through the cloudless sky instead of the artificial brightness, for the wind to blow softly through the leaves and the waves to lap gently at the sands beneath their feet. A spot where they can just stand for a minute, together.

“It’s beautiful,” Fie breaks the silence.

Simone slips her hand into Fie’s.

It’s all that needs to be said.

  1. **The Skyscraper  
**

“It’s weird, isn’t it?”

The sudden presence beside Simone snaps her out of her reverie. Simone thinks she recognises her face from the conference programme – some important CEO or something. Her name badge says Fie.

“It’s so small,” she says, looking out the same window as Simone, out across Malmö and the Öresund. And from their perspective, on the 49th floor of the tallest skyscraper in Scandinavia, yeah, it really is. “So fragile. Imagine how easy it would be to break it.”

“What?”

“Tweak a few genes here, flip a few proteins there, it doesn’t take much to turn a living organism into a killing machine.”

And, oh, Simone gets it. The rumours about her father’s company. The company she’s there representing. “You’re wrong,” Simone knows there isn’t a secret contract with the military. “Life’s a lot more complicated than that.” She knows because she’s been looking, digging everywhere she shouldn’t, and she hasn’t found anything yet. “A lot more.” Yet.

“Finding a cure for cancer is complicated,” Fie replies, the smallest hint of a smile on her face. “But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Especially when you’ve got smart people working on it.”

Is… Is that a compliment? Simone should be outraged at the accusation, but somehow, she finds herself blushing. And besides, she’s almost certain the rumours are false. “We’re…” And she tries to get her words to start working again. “We’re a good team.”

Fie smiles more broadly this time, but it’s less real. It’s more the smile of pity, of concern and worry. Of a danger that she hasn’t found yet. “I’ve been looking over your company’s studies,” and Simone can’t stop her heart from pumping a little faster when Fie leans in closer and drops her voice to a whisper. “It doesn’t add up.”

Simone rolls her eyes. She’s gone over the studies themselves. She’s pretty sure everything adds up as it should. “I look forward to reading your peer-reviewed paper.”

“I’m serious,” and Simone can tell Fie’s having trouble biting back her words. “There’s something very wrong. Trust me.”

Simone gives her a polite smile. Turns her eyes back to view.

Fie shakes her head. Marches off back into the crowd.

And that’s when it hits Simone. Fie. Not a CEO. A genius. The genius. And she thinks there’s something wrong with Apollon. But she’s got to be wrong. Right?

Right?

Simone thinks everything’s okay.

“Oh, shit.”

And Simone rushes into the crowd. Catches up with Fie. “Show me.” 

  1. ** The Bookstore **

Breakups are never easy.

Especially when it’s with a guy who’s been the only one you wanted by your side for years.

But Simone isn’t going to let herself mope. And, besides, a breakup is the perfect excuse to go spend money on some new books (well, anything is, but unfortunately, sometimes Simone has to be responsible). Especially when the last book in her favourite sci-fi’s series has just been published.

But when she gets to the bookstore, Simone makes a dreadful discovery. There’s only one of the book. And two of them. Her, and somebody else. Another woman, right next to her, the last copy perfectly between them.

“I was here first.”

And the way she says it, the natural arrogance, makes Simone’s blood boil. “In your dreams.”

The stranger doesn’t even flinch. “The psychology section is that way.”

“I bet you know a lot about abnormal psychology,” Simone counters, shifting a slight step closer to the prize.

The stranger gives her a cold smile. “I do.” And grabs the book.

So Simone does the only logical thing.

She jumps her.

They wrestle for the book. Get tangled up. One of them trips. Both of them fall. And…

Um.

Simone freezes. On top of the stranger. Stradling the stranger. Their eyes wide at each other, lips in a position that should be way too close for comfort.

“I’m Fie,” the stranger manages to squeeze out, with a hitch in her voice that makes Simone’s breathing hitch too.

“Maybe,” and Simone really likes Fie’s eyes. And her hands. “Maybe we could share.”

  1. ** The Hospital**

Simone hates hospitals.

Well, no, she doesn’t. She’s just so used to them they make her tired. It doesn’t help that she’s getting to an age where she’s going to have to start visiting them regularly for herself. To keep her going strong until the end.

But today, it isn’t for her. She got the call in the middle of the night this time. Rasmus is sick again. And she did what she always does – rushed right to the hospital, right to his side. She promised their parents once that she would always protect her little brother, no matter what. It’s a promise she’s kept until now, and, even their parents are long gone, it’s a promise she intends to keep until the day she dies.

But that doesn’t make the hospital less boring. She can only stare at the sterile white walls so many times before turning into the expert on sterile white walls. The trick, you see, is to find a shade of white that’s just right – not greyish but slightly beigish so that it balances with the white-blue lights on the ceilings, but still bright enough to…

She’s not alone.

Today, there’s someone else there in the waiting room. Someone else with the same tired expression. Another expert?

“You can see where they had to paint over,” Simone says immediately after shifting over to sit next to the newcomer. She points to a small spot on the wall across from them. Gives her a smile that she hopes is friendly, not maniacal.

The other person laughs, and Simone decides that it’s a lovely laugh. “They used the wrong shade of white.”

“I’m Simone.”

“Fie,” the no-longer-stranger replies.

Fie hates hospitals.

She didn’t always – she used to think they were her future. That she would roam these halls fixing everything. That she would save the world. And that’s what everyone told her. It only took a couple drinks too many to change that. And a daughter that can barely catch a cold without going through a near-death experience. And a job that makes her try and stop the deaths no one else can. It should probably scare her, she sometimes realises, how death has become so common in her life that she usually just thinks it’s boring.

“Come here often?”

And it’s the sheer inappropriateness of that line that makes Fie’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Oh my god, no.” Simone clamps her hands over her mouth. “I didn’t mean like… I mean…”

And Fie can’t help herself from laughing so hard her lungs ache. And, really, Simone decides, it’s a very lovely sound. “You meant?”

“I meant…” Simone tries to recover. Tries to get herself back to the level of solemnness that’s supposed to be appropriate for a hospital. Tries. “Want to go get some coffee?”

**+1. The Lab  
**

The nights always ended like this.

The two of them, working until the coffee runs, until the lab charts become so blurry the room starts to spin, until they get so exhausted they can’t even pretend to be optimistic about being optimistic anymore. But, still, they continue. Every night. Because that’s all they can do. Because they’ve made it this far, and fuck if they’re going to stop now.

But, still, you can’t fight sleep forever.

“Hmm,” Simone mumbles as she shifts in her chair. “Hm—” As she jolts up. “Oh, shit. I’m awake! I’m….” There’s not much use in pretending when’s no one’s going to listen. When it’s this late, it’s just her and Fie, all alone in the lab, and the very tiny snoring a few steps away from her means that Fie’s asleep too.

Silence.

Simone stifles a giggle. The way Fie’s slumped in her chair, over the lab bench, with a little sliver of drool pooling at the edge of her mouth is hilarious. Maybe a little adorable, but absolutely hilarious.

“Hey,” Simone whispers as she shifts over next to her. Uses her sleeve to softly wipe away the drool. “I’m just going to—”

Fie grumbles. Shifts. Right onto Simone.

“Um…” Simone doesn’t move. Partly because Fie looks so comfortable. Partly because Fie is so comfortable. “Fie?”

“Sh.”

Simone lets Fie settle, waits for her breathing to lull back towards the regularity of sleep, before sneaking an arm around her. “Thank you.” Before planting the softest of kisses on her forehead.

“You too.”

Simone leans in a bit closer. Lets her eyes drift shut. And for the first time in what feels like forever, she lets herself relax. Lets herself save the worrying for tomorrow.


End file.
